A prominent goodbye sign from defunct Payless Furniture that labels Lawrence 'Obamaville' and much more

Well, the folks at Payless Furniture at 2800 Iowa St. long have been famous for their crazy signs and the dancing fellows who hold them. As the company closes its doors, it has one final set of signs for the community that it did business in for around two decades: “Lawrence: Commie and Candy Ass Capitol of Kansas. Goodbye Obamaville.”

That’s the big sign that thousands of motorists driving on South Iowa Street will see today. The sign is pasted to the side of the furniture store’s delivery truck and is prominently displayed in the business’ parking lot.

That’s the most visible side of the truck. But if you use your KGB sleuthing skills, you can see what else is written on the truck if you pull into the parking lot. One side of the truck says: “Restore Freedom. Even Retards Want to be Free.” Of course, that sign displays the American flag as well. (Actually, if you look closely, it is not the U.S. flag. It has too many stars.)

Then’s there the third side of the truck. You’re going to have to put down your hammer and sickle and restock your candy supply because that side takes awhile to read. Among the highlights: One panel titled “Lawrence City Lib Facts” touts Lawrence as the No. 1 “city in the U.S. to be a homeless bum,” and being a “magnet for urban rats from Chicago & East Coast.” Not to be a geographic snob, though, the panel also points out that Lawrence is a “refuge for welfare lowlifes from KCK and Topeka.”

There’s a second panel on that side that is titled “Lawrence Lib Profile.” It talks about “urban snobs who have never done any real work but expect redistribution from those who do real work.” It also has language about “unpatriotic, amoral, materialistic, self-centered judgmental, busy bodies” and “brainwashed Marxist zombies.” (Geez, we wish. Have you seen how much zombies are making on TV these days?)

I went out to the site this morning to see all of it firsthand. While I was there taking notes, a man comes up behind me and tells me one thing on there is a misprint. One of the signs talks about how Lawrence voted 61 percent Obama in the 2012 elections. The man said that was actually the Douglas County number. Lawrence was higher than that.

I asked the fellow if he was associated with the store. He said he wasn’t, and then pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and opened the door to the locked store. I told him I thought that might be a sign he was associated with the store. I asked him about his signs, and he said he thought they spoke for themselves.

A man from a nearby business who saw our conversation said that was Bob, the owner of the place. Indeed, the going out of business permit from the city lists a Robert Fyfe as the owner of the store. I’ve got his cell number, so I’ll try to call him shortly for additional comment.

As for how long the signs may be up on South Iowa Street, it looks like it may be a few more days. As we previously have reported, Dale Willey Automotive has purchased the building at 2800 Iowa St. and will convert it into a new used car sales center. But officials at the auto dealership told me the Payless folks have a lease on the property that runs through Friday. They said there obviously won’t be any such signs on the property once they take control of the site.

As for what’s next for Fyfe, I’ve heard multiple things from multiple people. Some have said he’s moving to Texas, some have said he’s moving to a different state, but everyone I’ve talked to has said he’s moving. Imagine that.

Afternoon updates:

— When reached, Fyfe explained why he would send such a message to a community where he had done business since 1978: “I appreciate the business they gave me. It is not everybody, but it is a majority in Lawrence. It is not the young people’s fault. They are just so brainwashed.”

Goodbye to their white trash flashing sign, and their cheap furniture. And their lies. They would tell those poor kids who danced for them they would pay them $10/hour, then they refused to pay them more than $5/hour. They are liars and sold cheap, dirty furniture. The story proves that they are liars:

"I asked the fellow if he was associated with the store. He said he wasn’t, and then pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and opened the door to the locked store. I told him I thought that might be a sign he was associated with the store. I asked him about his signs, and he said he thought they spoke for themselves.

A man from a nearby business who saw our conversation said that was Bob, the owner of the place."

Almost everything he sold there was made in communist countries like China and Vietnam. So actually we did "REJECT MARXISM" by not buying his cheap crap. He was the one supporting Marxism by buying their furniture!

I'm a FoxNews viewer and I don't agree with anything that this hater put up. Frankly, Josh, FoxNews has a larger viewer audience than most all of the other news channels on television. They absolutely kill the other cable broadcasts combined. Brett Baier has one of the most admired evening news broadcasts on television. They offer points of view of the left and right. They may not be as "fair and balanced" as you would like but they are far more so than any other news network.

nah, it's completely different. payless uses garish primary colours pretty much exclusively. that store looks vaguely tasteful. tbh, a good test is to think to yourself, "does this look like a business that might shine a strobe light at the highway?"

Yet some folks are convinced it is. There was a guy named Curt Mitchell from (he said) Wichita who was being horrible to that other store.

He was firmly convinced that this Lawrence store was part of a chain/franchise and that "corporate mongrels" were in charge. I tried to pleasantly correct him but he called me a liar. His posts (and those of us who replied to him) have now been deleted.

Now their only unpleasant poster (very anti-Lawrence) is named John Henderson. Oh well. Haters are gonna hate.

"As for what’s next for Fyfe, I’ve heard multiple things from multiple people. Some have said he’s moving to Texas, some have said he’s moving to a different state, but everyone I’ve talked to has said he’s moving. Imagine that."

Thank god he moved! I'll bet he will still a miserable excuse of a human being wherever he goes.

Maybe if they treated their customers better they would still be in business. Years ago, I bought a twin mattress and box springs from them. When I got it home, I discovered the mattress was an extra long. I took it back because they sent me home with the wrong mattress. They charged me a restocking fee for trying to swap out for what I had originally bought. I returned the whole set paying the restocking fee on both items.
Never bought from them again. Plus I told everyone I knew who was looking for furniture the story. I'm glad to see them leaving.
Also, glad to not have to see them standing on the street or that awful bright light coming from the store.

When my kid moved from the Dorms to an apartment we ran over there and bought a cheap bed. Now I wish I hadn't. It is not in my nature to patronize a low down dirty pig like Robert Fyfe. The Obama insult is pretty standard for uneducated slobs but the twist on persons with disabilities is absolutely disgraceful and most disgusting. It borders on a hate crime and the man should be arrested. If for nothing else, for having a general lack of human decency.

My only hope is that when he does launch a new business in some other state, that the power of Google will allow his new potential customers to find his charming departing messages and make their own informed decisions about whether or not they'd like to patronize such a place.

I won't believe Payless is gone until the doors are shut and signs taken down. Haven't we heard this many times before? I tried to by a mattress there years ago for my young son, it was labeled with a reasonable price.. I went to the counter to purchase the mattress only to be told that it was the cash price (I was using a debit card). I despise tactics like that, I went and bought I more expensive mattress elsewhere. Later I learned what a total creep this guy is, glad they made me go elsewhere.

At least that annoying flashing strobe over the front door will be gone along with the drunks standing out front acting like that's going to attract business. I don't want to see that stuff when I go visit the Chick Filet that's coming across the street either.

Maybe the now absentee land owners should consider joining the rest of failed business people in the Topeka state legislature to scheme on how to avoid taxing multinational corporations and the state's billionaires.

I remember some of this guy's previous "attention-getting stunts." One involved what appeared to be a man dousing himself with gasoline, and another involved a Hitler dummy -- don't remember the details but he obviously lives for shock value. And of course, he played a cretin in one of his TV commercials, the same character that's shown on his latest sign.

You could make the same argument about Democrats who make equally crazy statements. I think when you go that far off the wagon painting someone with a political party is like using the phrase 'social gathering' to describe an orgy.

I'd like you to take a few moments of reflection the next time you're tempted to make a generalization against liberals or democrats based mainly on the actions of one. For that matter, you can think about it the next time you want to hastily label someone as such without verifying.

James, I must have missed the statements on this thread where you made the same rebuke to those on the left. As far as your last statement, or question, I agree. Generalizations aren't helpful but we see them from both sides on these threads, don't we?

Not republican. Neo-con or libertarian maybe, but He is a nut. I do not think his political leanings matter and he is no way a representative of any party. So to demean republicans based on this nut makes you no better than him.

Dorothy, as a result of a serious medical condition that my daughter developed as a result of living in a mold infested rental house, my family and I were forced to move to a mobile home park and into a brand new mobile home. The park is at 3300 Iowa St, specifically. I too suffered under the delusion that people that lived in these parks were "Trailer Trash". That was until my daughter came home from school one day, in tears, because a girl in her class was going around telling everyone that she lived in a "recreational vehicle." That was until young men that my son had played baseball with and had run around together, now, no longer wanted to be seen with him. This is a very humbling experience of which I will never forget. I had to look into the faces of my children and explain that there is a lot of ignorance out there, no matter your socioeconomic background. As Christians, we are called to forgive them and be pleased with out current station in life. So before you start using the term "Trailer Trash", I suggest you go out to one of these parks and hear some of their stories. I will no longer use the term "Trailer Trash" any more than the "n" word. I understand that your remarks were not aimed at people that live in mobile home parks but I also don't think you understand, or may have forgotten, that people that live in "trailers" have feelings too. I would tend to believe that most if not all of them would not use the inflammatory rhetoric that Fyfe used on his signs as well.

The sad fact is if Lawrence business owners, especially the restaurateurs who want to live up to "Free State" founders' vision, should be constantly involved in negotiating; equitable living wages and health care benefits to their employees. It is possible to enhance Lawrence as the absolute best city in Kansas to live in for all it's citizens. Do not rest, in haste, our struggle continues ...

You can unlike that use as much as you like but the facts are the R party is the one creating the mess we face in Kansas these days. The R party is against many things that have advanced our society today. Own it.

My take on this? The guy played us. He got free advertising. Everyone knows that name recognition whether for good or for bad is all good when it comes to sales. Seriously. He is all over the web now, and may even make the national wires...at no cost to him. That's a smart move, even if I don't like the message at all.

This dude has some serious mental health issues. He should have partaken of our esteemed Bert Nash services. I want to just say where do I sign up for a class act lawsuit against a person who exploited then called us names? I feel like I was just publicly stoned and I do love and respect all leaders of the free world and my home town. So as Merle sang about in the 70s love it or leave it. Get your sorry butt on outta here!

People don't, in many cases, exhibit much understanding of Marxism and political systems inspired by Marxism. Communism and Marxism are often unfairly inflated; historical and political usurpations and abuses of Marxist theories has given Marxism a bad rap, but really he is about recognizing the way, in today's mechanized global economy, how the masses and workers are not free—they are the producers but hot the owners and are therefore alienated by their labor. Whoever indicated the problems that this man's mattresses probably came from a factory was right, but it's in support of capitalism since the U.S. has such a big stake in the global economy and, via capitalism, outsources for cheaper labor and production of goods like mattresses. The people at the top of the economic chain are in control and have freedom, but those who are not born into privilege and economic assets are not free. They are given considerably less opportunity, even in Erica, to work hard and pull themselves up by bootstraps. The freedom rhetoric fails to recognize that, as the wealth flap in the U.S. Grows wider, many are not free, but unfortunately the people who are privileged by the system or don't pay attention to how it works associate unchecked power with freedom—access and opportunity, as well as a way to check those in financial control, something socialism attempts to do, is a way of returning freedom to the masses. Is it perfect? Not by a long shot. But if he is criticizing the government, Obama should be the least of his worries. We live in an oligarchy, and so his real concern should be the many crooked lawmakers (legislative branch, in case he doesn't know) who profit from a system that benefits the rich and powerful. As a conservative Kansas, he probably voted against his own best interests of he supported Brownback and thought trickle down economics worked.

Ah, the tired old Marxist mantra that if you're not born into privilege, you are forever doomed. This is what made America different. In America, you didn't obtain property and wealth based on what the ruling class gave you. In America, you could do it on your own. I give you Donald Trump, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Sam Walton, and the list could continue. So all of you "Marxists' can blow it out your ears.

'MERICA!! I'm sure if he were a smart and successful business man he wouldn't have to worry about the marxist, commie, Obama-lovin, candy assed citizens of Lawrence. He's just butt-hurt that his business went under. He's probably a proud Brownback (athletic)supporter and would be singing a different tune if his business had done well, but it did not. Hurray for america and the 1st amendment.

What a sad state this guy must live in all his life. Constantly blaming others for his failures and never looking inward for the fix. I tried to buy furniture from his store. We laid down $900 to purchase a leather sofa and love seat, but he turned around and would not make delivery because he sold it out from under us. But he never told us until the delivery did not arrive. Then he refused to give our money back because the sign said no refunds. We had to go to the BBB and get them to intervene in order to get our $900 back. The man wrote us a nasty letter telling us his wife had an aneurysm and brain surgery and that is why there was the misunderstanding. And that we were bad people for complaining against them. Not that I do not have compassion for people with disabilities, but this was business. And guess what? We lived in Lawrence at the time, and we are not what you would consider liberals. We did not vote for Obama, but he still treated us like crap and tried to screw us out of our money. The man is messed up big time. And it is not the liberals fault. It is not the conservatives fault. Or even the marxist's fault or even Obama's fault for God's sake. I hope he finds what he is looking for.

I'm sure there are thousands of stories about this guy. The last time I set foot in there, about three years ago, Bob and one of his female employees were screaming at each other. I hadn't heard that many F-bombs and witnessed such a total disregard for customers in a retail business... well, ever. I've been patiently waiting for this day, and I'm not surprised he's leaving in such a blazing failure.

On another website, a frequent commentator here on the LJW website was interviewed by a reporter and says he agrees with the sign. I won't post it, but it was an article on the website one of the Kansas City news stations if you want to look and see who among the frequent posters agrees with Bob.

Not even low income people can afford to purchase junk furniture. It needs replacing too often.

A great new industry for Lawrence might be two or three quality USA made used furniture store fronts in the downtown area. There is a quality used furniture store in North Lawrence. This household has purchased a few items.

The image of Lawrence improved with the announcement that this retail operation is gone.